Your search

[The author] brings to the pages of this journal two closely intertwined debates regarding the meaning of social movement unionism and strategies for rebuilding labour movement power in Canada and the United States. It offers an important overview of this debate and raises critical points about the meaning and place of union democracy. The author provides a pertinent critique of the “organizing unionism” “model” that has emerged in the United States. It also serves as a useful foil for distinguishing greater member participation of the sort called for by the organizing model from greater member control.

The Quebec labour movement's decision to withdraw its support for Canada's federal system in the 1970s and instead embrace the sovereignist option was unquestionably linked to the intersection of class and nation in Quebec. In this period, unions saw the sovereignist project as part of a larger socialist or social democratic societal project. Because the economic inequalities related to ethnic class, which fuelled the labour movement's support for sovereignty in the 1970s, were no longer as prevalent by the time of Quebec's 1995 referendum, organized labour's continued support for the sovereignist option in the post-referendum period cannot adequately be explained using the traditional lens of class and nation. This paper employs an institutional comparative analysis of Quebec's three largest trade union centrals with a view to demonstrating that organized labour's primary basis for supporting sovereignty has changed considerably over time. While unions have not completely abandoned a class-based approach to the national question, they have tended to downplay class division in favour of an emphasis on Quebec's uniqueness and the importance of preserving the collective francophone identity of the nation. Party–union relations, the changing cultural, political and economic basis of the sovereignist project and the emergence of neoliberalism in Quebec are offered as key explanatory factors for the labour movement's shift in focus.

The wage gap between Francophone and Anglophone men from 1970 and 2000 fell by 25 percentage points within Quebec, but only by 10 points Canada-wide, largely because the wages of Quebec Anglophones fell by 15 points relative to other Canadian Anglophones. Accordingly, the Canadian measure of the Francophone gap better reflects the changing welfare of Francophones than the Quebec measure. Over half of the reduction in the Canadian Francophone wage gap is explained by rising Francophone education levels. In Quebec, the declining number and relative wages of Anglophone workers is best explained by a falling demand for English-speaking labour. /// L'écart de salaires entre les hommes francophones et anglophones est tombé de 25 points de pourcentage au Québec entre 1970 et 2000, mais seulement de 10 points à l'échelle canadienne, largement parce que les salaires des anglophones au Québec sont tombés de 15 points par rapport aux autres canadiens anglophones. En conséquence, la mesure canadienne de l'écart prend mieux la mesure du changement de bien-être des francophones que la mesure québécoise. Plus de la moitié de la réduction dans l'écart au niveau canadien s'explique par l'accroissement des niveaux d'éducation des francophones. Au Québec, le nombre en déclin des travailleurs anglophones et la chute de leurs salaires relatifs s'expliquent par un déclin dans la demande de travailleurs parlant anglais.

Using cross-sectional data from a Canadian population-based questionnaire, this article develops a new approach to understanding the impact of less permanent forms of employment on workers' health. It concludes that employment relationships where future employment is uncertain, where individuals are actively searching for new employment and where support is limited are associated with poorer health indicators.

English/French abstracts of the article in the Spring 2008 issue.

English/French abstracts of articles in the Fall 2008 issue.

A subject index for the 2007 issues of "Labour/Le Travail" is presented.

Commentary on Brian Langille's paper, "Can We Rely on the ILO?”

What Workers Say: Employee Voice in the Anglo-American Workplace, edited by Richard B. Freeman, Peter Boxall and Peter Haynes, is reviewed.

The article reviews the book, "Corporate Wasteland: The Landscape and Memory of Deindustrialization," by Steven High And David W. Lewis.

The article reviews the book, "Subcommander Marcos: The Man and the Mask," by Nick Henck.

The article reviews the book, "No Place to Go: Local Histories of the Battered Women's Shelter Movement," by Nancy Janovicek.

The focus of this paper is the large difference in the labour market involvement of Canadian and Australian women. In the context of ageing populations and associated skill shortages, this employment gap has particular policy significance. Understanding the contributing factors could guide the development of new approaches to maximising potential labour supply. This paper explores the role of differences in educational attainment, marginal tax rates, parental leave, child care costs and attitudes regarding the legitimacy of mothers' involvement in paid work.

Economist, sociologists, and other social scientists have begun to study the influence of sexual orientation on individuals in the labor market, particularly with respect to employment discrimination. The conceptual framework developed in this paper connects lesbian, gay, and bixexual workers' disclosure of their sexual orientation to the economic and social characteristics of the workplace. Disclosure creates the potential for discrimination by employers and coworkers. The framework shows how sexual orientation operates independently and in interaction with other important characteristics such as race and gender. A review of existing research supports the hypothesis that discrimination against gay workers exists. Both workplace groups for gays and lesbians and those who work gay and lesbian workers (such as supervisors, personnel managers, and counselors) need to understand the relationship between disclosure and discrimination in order to make workplaces supportive of lesbian, gay, and bisexual workers.

The article reviews the book, "Global Governance in Question: Empire, Class and the New Common Sense in Managing North-South Relations," by Susanne Soederberg.

The article focuses on the educational course History 492 and the relationship between the re-conceptualization and rewriting of working-class history in the U.S. and the ways in which teaching of the subject has changed. The evolution of the course suggests that social class is still being talked about in more capacious terms. It says that the seminar's comparative approach indicates that the characteristics of capitalism and industrialism are shared from one society to another.

The article reviews the book, "Scapegoats of September 11th: Hate Crimes and State Crimes in the War on Terror," by Michael Welch.

The article reviews the book, "Liquid Gold: Energy Privatization in British Columbia," by John Calvert.